Johnny Zacchara (Brandon Barash)
John Anthony "Johnny" Zacchara is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital. Within the series, he is the son of notorious NYC crime lord, Anthony Zacchara, and has become a member of the Zacchara organization. The contract role is portrayed by Brandon Barash. Character history Johnny is first introduced as a troubled young man, when he meets Lulu Spencer, the girlfriend of Logan Hayes. For years, Johnny has been looked after by lawyer Trevor Lansing, because Johnny witnessed his insane father, Anthony, shoot his mother, Maria. Anthony is now obsessed with keeping his son near him. Lulu continues to interact with the troubled young man, despite disapproval from her friends Jason Morgan and Damian Spinelli. Johnny sneaks into Nikolas Cassadine's Black and White Ball, as his father is intent on killing Lulu to keep his son from her. Anthony terrorizes the guests, while Diego Alcazar murders Nikolas' fiancée, Emily Quartermaine. After a confrontation with Jason Morgan, Anthony is paralyzed due to a fall, and Johnny takes over as the head of the Zacchara family. Disapproving of the relationship, Trevor tries to have Lulu killed, but Johnny is able to save her. Tensions arise between Johnny, fellow mob boss Sonny Corinthos, and the mysterious Moreau, who is revealed to be Jerry Jacks. After "Moreau" briefly kidnaps Lulu, Johnny is hurt in an explosion. Though Logan objects, Lulu insists on tending to Johnny, leading to Johnny and Lulu admitting their feelings for each other. Meanwhile, his sister Claudia Zacchara becomes more involved with the family business. When Logan reveals that he intended to frame Johnny as Emily's killer, Logan and Lulu struggle, and she puts him into a coma by hitting him with a wrench. Johnny and Lulu finally make love on the Haunted Star, and intend to begin a relationship. Sonny kidnaps Johnny, mistakenly believing he is responsible for shooting Sonny's lover Kate Howard and kidnapping his son Michael. Sonny learns that Michael was responsible for shooting Kate and actually ran away, but refuses to release Johnny until Claudia brokers a deal to use shipping lanes controlled by the Zacchara organization. The siblings are reunited in a waterfront cannery, but are caught in an explosion caused by Diego. After helping Michael escape from the warehouse, Johnny reunites with Lulu, who ends things with Logan. Claudia and Johnny decide to present a united front to take down their father, who's release from an insane asylum was orchestrated by Sonny's half-brother and enemy Ric Lansing. The siblings also conspire to have Sonny killed, but their assassin Ian Devlin hits Michael instead, sending him into a permanent vegetative state. Believing Lulu can make his son happy, Anthony forces Johnny and Lulu to continue their relationship. Despite tension between Lulu and Claudia, Johnny decides to let his girlfriend help collect information about his father to send him away to prison for good. From Johnny's apartment, Lulu sees Logan attack Maxie Jones, and when he breaks into the apartment with an axe, she kills him in self defense. When Johnny tells Claudia he is responsible for the death, the siblings attempt to cover up the murder, but Johnny is soon arrested. Lulu begins to become unstable, and she breaks Johnny out of the police station using a gun she brought and pretending to be his hostage. They assume fake identities, but Lulu begins to hallucinate, believing that she sees Logan's ghost. When Johnny learns of the similar circumstances surrounding the mental breakdown of her mother Laura Webber, he takes her to Shadybrook Sanitarium for treatment. Johnny is found not guilty for murdering Logan, and Lulu begins to recover until she sees a note acknowledging her role in Logan's death. With the help of her mother Lulu is able to recover, and the couple reconcile, though Johnny continues to be tormented over his role in Michael's injuries. Upon learning of his father's role in the second shooting of Kate Howard and his sister's marriage of convenience to Sonny, Johnny decides to sever all ties to his family business. He moves in with new roommates Lulu and Maxie, and begins to search for a job. With no further education since high school and his known association with the mafia, Johnny finds no one willing to hire him, and during his job search he is arrested and charged with assault, a frame by Anthony in an attempt to get him to return to the organization. He is bailed out of this trouble by Lulu's father Luke Spencer, with assistance from Sonny Corinthos. Johnny's frustration over finances and guilt over his role in Michael's coma lead him to contemplate ending his relationship with Lulu. He also considers having sex with Maxie to make sure the split is permanent, but the two are unable to go through with it. Eventually, after accompanying Maxie to an event representing Crimson, he takes Kate's offer of $1,000 per event as Maxie's official Crimson escort. Maxie and Johnny miss another date to a club opening for Crimson to help Claudia get Ric's stomach pumped after she drugged him. Due to this, Lulu got a call stating Maxie and Johnny never arrived, prompting Spinelli and Lulu to become suspicious. Spinelli confronts Johnny about the incident, stating he will fight for Maxie. Maxie called Johnny who told Maxie to make sure Lulu doesn't know what happened. Johnny confessed to Lulu that he and Maxie had almost had sex during the blizzard. He tells her that he wants to be free to be who he is and that he doesn't want to have to apologize for everything that he does. He and Maxie later meet at the dock where he begins his next move of self-destruction, telling her he wants to burn down his life and does not care, now that Lulu is out of it. He tells her that he wants her. Spinelli later catches Maxie and Johnny engaged in a kiss. Lulu breaks up with Johnny, leading Johnny to sleep with Olivia Falconeri, who he began dating in May 2009. After Anthony is arrested, Johnny becomes a part of Sonny's organization, despite Sonny's hostility towards him. He tries to prove himself loyal to Sonny, despite all the setbacks. Johnny is constantly covering for his sister, including saving Jason from hitmen sent by Claudia to kill him. Johnny goes to Sonny's warehouse to cover Lulu's new boyfriend, Dominic's, shift during the carnival. Unknown to them, Anthony has sent his men to shoot down the warehouse. While trying to save Spinelli, Johnny ends up getting shot. Anthony is furious, as well as Claudia. He manages to recover when Spinelli calls the police and brings him to the hospital. Johnny tells Claudia to keep her distance from Michael after he wakes up from his coma in the middle of May. Claudia still tries to become friends with Michael and manipulates him to believe she had nothing to do with his shooting. He confesses to Olivia that his sister was responsible for putting Sonny's son, Michael, in a coma, and Olivia reveals that she already knows that when Jerry told his brother, Jax. Johnny is upset when his sister gets pregnant to protect herself from Sonny, and tells her she is headed straight for trouble. Claudia suffers a miscarriage when she is run off the road. At first, Michael confesses to running Claudia off the road before running away. Johnny is furious when he finds out Claudia sent Jerry after Michael and tells her he's done covering for her. It is later revealed that Sonny's daughter, Kristina, was the one who ran Claudia off the road. Claudia hates Johnny's relationship with Olivia, and blackmails Olivia into breaking up with her brother. Johnny is able to figure out the truth, however, but gets nowhere with Claudia confessing. Johnny then becomes manipulative and makes Claudia believe he's reconciling with her so that she won't know that he's still with Olivia. Johnny finds out from Jason that the proof that Claudia got Michael shot has finally been found, and Sonny will be told. Before he can warn his sister, he is kidnapped by Joey Limbo, his father's henchman, on Anthony's orders so that Johnny won't get caught in the crossfire when Joey takes out Sonny. He is saved, though, by Morgan and Molly. After dropping them home, he runs to the Metro Court, where Sonny is having a birthday party for Claudia. He arrives in time to hear Sonny rip into Claudia for getting Michael shot. Claudia ends up pulling a gun and takes Carly Jacks, Sonny's ex-wife, hostage. Johnny, in an attempt to find Claudia and stop her, goes to the old Zacchara house, and runs into Lulu and Dominic. Lulu ends up getting seriously injured and Johnny calls paramedics while Dominic stays with her. The two of them manage to save Lulu, and when Johnny gets to the hospital, he finds out Carly has been found and brought to the hospital. He is told Claudia disappeared, but he knows Claudia is probably dead. He is visibly upset about this, and tells Olivia that Claudia was the only person who ever stuck up for him. Johnny finds out Dominic is Olivia's son, Dante, and is an undercover cop. He is at an impasse about whether to stay with Olivia or tell Sonny the truth. He decides to let Dante's identity stay a secret so that Sonny will be caught for murdering his sister. On December 28, 2009, an artist, Franco, sends Johnny a picture of Claudia's empty grave, and Johnny confronts Jason over it. Jason admits to Johnny that Michael was the one who actually killed Claudia on accident. Johnny is upset and hits Jason, but later on, while talking to Olivia, he tells her he knows who killed his sister, but doesn't say who. On January 11, 2010, Franco blows up a warehouse where Lulu was being held hostage. Luckily, Dante saves her right before the warehouse explodes. However, when the cops are clearing out the warehouse, they find Claudia's body, conveniently placed there by Franco. Johnny is upset at how his sister's body is used as a pawn with Franco. He reveals to Dante that he knows who he is, but also tells him he's not going to out him because he wants justice done for his sister and he doesn't want to see Olivia get hurt, either. Jason later asks him to keep quiet about the fact that Michael killed Claudia. Johnny attends Josslyn Jacks' christening. References External links *Character profile at SoapCentral.com Category:General Hospital characters Category:Fictional mobsters category:Fictional Italian-Americans